Well, I continue to try to grow in my artistic endeavors. I got out the other day and took some photographs of some flowers. One of my favorite things…

I also tried to use some existing techniques, while also inventing some new techniques. I had taken some photos of these plants before but they were a little bit flat. Not enough emotion.

I guess am really trying to increase the energy in my color photographs. And in order to increase the energy I’m using movement. I guess that’s the trick. So here is the first set from this continuing series. I’m really happy with them. I think I found another thing that makes it interesting, makes it fun, and keeps me from getting bored. Let me know what you think.

I will have two pieces of my art work shown as part of a show “Nature (re)Defined.” There are 10 or so photographers in the show. I will have some nature motion photos on display and for sale. I hope to see you there.

I was camping a while back. I got out to Lake del valle, which is outside of Livermore, California. I thought that I might catch some scenic landscapes, or something by the lake. The lake is still there, but the drought has totally dried up the connecting riverbed. The shore of the lake is definitely farther in that it has been in the past.

Anyway, I was looking for this certain crooked tree to get the rising sun to come across. I never did find the tree that I had seen just the day before. Never the less, the clouds had the most interesting formations. That led to this little study. I am quite happy with how they came out. Some of them are brooding, some mysterious, and in some it seems that you can recognize shapes or faces. I love this one.

The other day I was riding my bicycle. The ride begins with a kind of steep hill. I noticed that there was another guy riding a bicycle with all this stuff on the back. I couldn’t figure out why he would be riding a bike like that up the steep hill. I kind of gave him some words of encouragement to make it up the hill. He said that he didn’t have to go far. He just had to go to the Pyrenees. I thought that he was making a joke about how far that he had to go to up the hill.

I just kind of shrugged off, because I was just biking to get some exercise, have fun and make it up the hill.

After I passed him, it occurred to me that maybe he didn’t say Pyrenees, but was are talking about peonies – as in peony flowers. That made me think about how I took the photo Peony Power last year, and that people got really excited when they saw it.

I hadn’t realized how difficult peonies were to grow in California. A couple hours later, on my way back home from my ride, I noticed the guy set up next to the flowers. He had his easel, canvas, and a chair and was painting the flowers.

The next day I came back with my camera to check out and see the peony flowers. Well, the light wasn’t great but the flowers are beautiful. There’s half a dozen of them growing in a bush. So this is the result of that experience.

I guess that the art goes in waves for me. A creative wave – where i am taking a lot of photos and trying different things doesn’t always come quickly. There is also a production wave – where I am printing, matting and framing a lot of work for show or sale. There was quite a bit of that for the open studios, and in addition I was working through the folio stuff. I suppose that it is inevitable that there is a creative lull after the period of productivity.

I get out the other day to take my daughter to play some volleyball with friends. We went to Roberts Park in Oakland. Roberts Park itself is pretty cool because you just wander among the redwood trees and it’s hard to know that you are in a major city.

There’s a hidden in plain view area of Roberts Park that has a sand volleyball court. You wouldn’t know that it was there unless you went to look for. It’s behind a bunch of trees and just a few minutes from the parking lot. It’s not far but you can’t see it from the lot. There is a sign that you would think it’s an illusion.

Anyway, they got set up playing I noticed that there were some nice wildflowers growing. I had brought my camera and I took some photos of them having a good time. I also got to do something with the motion style that I’ve been working on and playing with some of those came out okay. Check it out let me know what you think ..

I have changed the menus a little bit. I added some links to the collections on the home page. This list of collections will grow over time. I think that I will do a lot of my future work around these collection. The collections are a group of photographs on a particular subject. As projects evolve, I may add some more multimedia content to them. Hopefully, these will be interesting, but you will be the judge of that.

There is a new logo coming. It will replace the generic site name text. I may roll it out before it’s quite done, but we will see.

My goal is to make this a fully functional location for all of my creative endeavors…

I had a good run at the Open Studios. A lot of very positive feedback. The folios (collections) were available for the first time. I will add them here shortly. I will definitely continue creating those on other projects. They will be limited runs, probably only 8 sets, with a max of 12. There were a couple of photos that were particularly popular. One of them was Pismo Cove. I am really happy with this one, and also happy that it was well received. I am considering entering it into a contest with Black and White magazine. The deadline is pretty soon, so we’ll see if I can get it together.